A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*

Companies seeking renewable energy power purchase agreements should be more interested in how the deals in question would affect greenhouse gas emissions than what their total capacity is, writes Daniel Cohan, an assistant professor at Rice University. Cohan argues that building new wind and solar projects will have a greater impact than purchasing renewable energy credits.

Wind development remains a challenge for Connecticut, given the state's limited available land and relatively weak wind resources, according to state Rep. Lonnie Reed, co-chair of the Energy and Technology Committee. "We have a highly educated population of environmentalists, who love the idea of renewables but are very concerned about what tracts of land are going to be utilized for it," she said.

Protect the environment: Vestas Bat MitigationVestas Bat Mitigation System can reduce bat mortality rate by up to 60% by analyzing bat movement patterns and implementing them into the turbine's intelligent control system. Read more about the solution, and request a quote today

E.ON has begun building the 278-megawatt, 139-turbine Twin Forks project in Illinois, which is expected to begin operations sometime in 2017, according to the company. "E.ON's wind farms not only produce clean, renewable power, but create jobs, give farmers and land owners additional sources of income, and help local officials improve schools and other critical public services," said Patrick Woodson, E.ON North America chairman and American Wind Energy Association board member.

Apex Clean Energy has sold the 147-megawatt Grant Plains project in Oklahoma to Southern Power, bringing the utility's total capacity, including projects under construction, to over 2,400 MW. The Grant Plains wind farm will feature 64 machines from Siemens.

Akuo Energy and Eurus Energy America have begun operations of a 50-megawatt wind farm in Uruguay featuring 15 Vestas V117 3.3-MW turbines. The Florida 2 wind farm is the second project the duo have completed in the country.

Vattenfall will spend about $3.3 million to research the effect of offshore wind development on the environment, according to the company. "In-depth scientific research and monitoring in a real-time environment is recognized as vital to maximizing the learning opportunities for the offshore wind sector," said European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre Project Director Adam Ezzamel.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has scheduled a Sept. 20 informational session to discuss the upcoming Kitty Hawk offshore wind leasing auction in North Carolina. If approved, the agency could auction off the right to develop an offshore wind farm on a 122,405-acre stretch off the coast of the state.

Adding wind power to America's electricity mix creates a stronger power system, writes Michael Goggin, Senior Research Director at AWEA. By increasing diversity, he says, wind energy is a critical tool for increasing reliability: "Individual wind plants typically generate electricity over 90 percent of the time, a number that is increasing due to technological advances allowing wind turbines to reach stronger, steadier winds." This increases even further when grid operators combine the output of all wind plants, and all sources of energy supply and demand, over large regions. Commercial wind turbines now operate in 41 states. Goggin says "adding wind energy to a system never increases the need for other power plants, but rather reduces it."

An individual has not begun to live until he can rise above the narrow horizons of his particular individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist

These stories were selected and summarized by independent editors at SmartBrief Inc., not by AWEA's staff, and do not represent AWEA positions. They reflect the variety of daily coverage of American wind power.

The above links are all to the e-book versions of these chapbooks.
For paperback versions and to view a listing of all my books as they are released click
HERE: Dan Stafford's Poetic Universe

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*NOTE* Before moving the Zephyr to this domain on blogspot, the original blog hosted at Whizzyrds.com/Windblog.html had over 88,000 visits, and was receiving about 25-100 visits per day since May, 2003.
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I believe I had around 200,000 total hits or so on this blog before Sitemeter went defunct.

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About Me

Happily married with two grown children out on their own, I've had extensive life experience in many areas. I consider myself a Progressive, and I strive to make the world a better place for those around me and those who'll follow after us. I am an Air Force Veteran, and I have been a Telecommunications Technician since 1993, with a Vocational Diploma in Aircraft Electronics. My interests are Environmentalism, Science, Social Justice, Poetry and Music, Reading, Karate, and learning Spanish. I'm originally from Southern Wisconsin, and have lived in the Chicago Metro area (Naperville, Plainfield, & Oak Brook) since late 1997. Moved to Temecula, CA January of 2015.

Why I Publish This Blog:

"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperaturedifferential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow.Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.

The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact isrecognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousandsof them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it onagriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The landfootprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuatingfuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drasticallybased on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of goodmanufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it'smore "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for usright around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to havea huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."

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Dan Stafford - PublisherClick on this pic to e-mail Dan.WE WELCOME ENERGY STORY SUBMISSIONS!
Please note the E-mail link by the title of the webpage. Comments, stories, and article submissions are welcome.
Any accepted submission entitles the submitter to a link on the Journal page included at the bottom of their submitted entry when published to the journal.
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal makes no claim as to the accuracy of submitted material. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal neither endorses nor opposes opinions expressed in submitted material. Submitter must provide
name, city, and state or country. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal imples no promise to publish all submissions. Adult content will definitely NOT be published.
Submitted material will be screened and appropriate entries published at the owner's discretion.

Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:

I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the
American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)